22 Nov 2020 - Adding expenses to invoices

Expenses can now be added to invoices in a similar way to timecodes, terminology used in invoice process made clearer, more improvements to expenses, a faster way to create a simple project and adjustments to how some permissions are set.

Included in this release

Invoicing major enhancement and general improvements

• Terminology change for invoice statuses to make them clearer and less scary!
• You can now associate expenses to an invoice, this is done in the same way as you associate time entries to invoice line items
• Projects can now have a default Purchase Order number that flows through to invoices created for that project
• Column resizing on the invoice directories
• The buy price field has been removed from non-services invoice lines
• Fixed a bug where some data was inadvertently cleared when you change the invoice date

Improvements to expenses

• We’ve made the question around whether you paid for an expense yourself clearer
• Project managers can now save an expense and go straight the detailed view of it in one click
• You can now download receipts directly from the expense directories
• Expense directories now have a multiselect for claim status so you can view any combination of states

Speedy timecode setup when creating a new project

• You can now quickly add one timecode per budget (same name as the budget name), great for projects that don’t need a detailed breakdown.

Other changes

• Added an organisation filter to the main forecasting screen
• Added GL revenue codes for budgets on the month end accrual report

API & SQL Views

• Minor update to the expense claims endpoint of the API
• Three new SQL views added to support reporting on expenses

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Terminology changes to invoice process

Responding to some consistent feedback we have made changes to the terminology used throughout the invoicing process.

Changes to button labels

• Set Invoice to Awaiting Approval changed to Submit for Approval
• Set Invoice to Ready changed to Approve (Manager)
• Publish Invoice changed  Approve (Finance)

Changes to invoice states

• Draft >> Draft
• Awaiting Approval changed to Pending
• Ready changed to Manager Approved
• Published changed to Finance Approved

A few things to note

• The "Ready Invoices" tab is now called "Ready for Finance"
• An invoice can be emailed to the client once it's been approved.
• The ability to "Publish and Email" from the invoice itself has been removed. You will need to send invoices either from the "Ready for Finance" tab (as you currently do) or from any invoice action menu from the Invoice directories (the three buttons to the right of the invoices)

Adding expenses to invoices

With all the work on expenses over the past few months we have now added the ability for expenses to be easily added to an invoice. The process works in a very similar way to how time entries are invoiced.

When creating an invoice, all billable expenses which are yet to be invoiced will be listed within the applicable budget on the invoice. By default, expenses prior to the invoice date will be ticked to be included on the invoice - you can tick or untick as required.

The amount of the invoice line can be set to the forecast amount, value of expense entries or a manual amount. When selecting expense entries the billable amount of all selected expenses will be included as the line amount.

 

Improvements to expenses

We’ve made the question around whether you paid for an expense yourself clearer. The question has been relocated to the bottom of the form and you need to select an option before you can save submit the expense.

Project managers can now save an expense and go straight the detailed view of it in one click.

• You can now download receipts directly from the expense directories
• Expense directories now have a multiselect for claim status so you can view any combination of states

Improvements to managing expenses

A couple of changes have been made to help people who are managing expenses.

Ability to multi-select claim statuses

Use the multi select option to view any combination of states.

Download receipts directly from the expense directories

You no longer need to click into an expense to be able to download the receipt

Purchase Order Field on project - links to invoice

It's now easier to link a purchase order (or reference) from a project through to the invoice. A new "Default Reference / PO No." field has been added to the Invoicing section on the Project Settings screen.

The first invoice created for the project will automatically populate the reference field on the invoice with the value from the setting page, with subsequent invoices using the same reference until changed.

 

Fast way to set up a simple project structure

Not all projects require a detailed work breakdown structure. If you have a project where you just need a timecode within each phase, you can create a timecode of the same name with one click.

Permission changes - Administrators take note

Some adjustments have been made to the service points which control which user access roles can allow projects and people to be added

Add Project

The ability to create a project was previously linked with the ability save a project. This has now been separated which provides more flexibility. This will be helpful for companies who centralise the project creation process, but still require project managers to be able to maintain and save project.

 

API changes

SQL Views

Three new views have been added to support reporting on expenses.

• DimExpenseClaimStatus
• DimExpenseClaimType
• DimFX